Egypt–Libya border

Ottoman provinces

In 1841 the Ottoman sultan confirmed Muhammad Ali Pasha as governor of Egypt. A map with the firman showed Egypt’s western boundary with Ottoman Tripoli running irregularly southeast from the coast to a point just east of the 29th meridian, far east of today’s line.^[1]

Britain occupied Egypt in 1882, and Italy took Tripoli and Benghazi from the Ottomans in the war of 1911–12, while Egyptian forces held the coastal town of Sallum. Egypt became independent on 28 February 1922.^[1]

The Treaty of Jaghbub

A British–Italian agreement of 1919 placed the oasis of Al Jaghbub in Italian Libya, which Egypt did not accept. Egypt and Italy settled the whole border in an accord of 6 December 1925, known as the Treaty of Jaghbub; Egypt ratified it only on 7 July 1932.^[1]

Compared with the 1841 map, Egypt gained a great deal: about 180 miles of coast, including Sallum and Matruh, and up to 260 miles of interior, including Siwa and Farafra.^[1] Jaghbub, holy city of the Sanusi order whose founder is buried there, stayed on the Libyan side.^[1]

Arcs, tracks and a meridian

In the north the line starts on the coast 10 km from Beacon Point, at the tip of the Bay of Sollum, follows an arc around it, then runs just west of old caravan tracks inland, with more arcs around the Manasseb and Williams passes. From about 29°14′N it follows the 25th meridian for 503 miles to the 22nd parallel.^[1]

An agreement of 9 November 1926 clarified the northern stretch, and a mixed commission reported in 1927. In 1937–38 a commission straightened the line between beacons, bringing them to 187, and signed its final report on 3 May 1938.^[1] After the Second World War Egypt claimed Libyan land, including Bardiyah and Jaghbub, but in 1966 the US Geographer knew of no Egyptian claims against independent Libya.^[1]

“It shall then follow that Meridian until its intersection with the 22nd North Parallel.”^[1]

Across the desert

Apart from the coastal strip, the border crosses desert: an escarpment above the sea, depressions with marshes and lakes east of Jaghbub, the dunes of the Great Sand Sea, and the Libyan Desert to Jabal Uwaynat. In 1966 only a road between Sallum and Bardiyah crossed it; elsewhere there were only tracks.^[1]

In the first days of Libya’s uprising in 2011, some 69,000 people crossed from Libya into Egypt between 19 February and 1 March, according to the Egyptian government.^[2]